Nebula - n-Prize competition entrant No. 1

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The aims of the n-prize are indeed lofty (pun intended). Put briefly, the rules state that:

The N-Prize will be awarded to the first person or group to put into orbit, around the Earth, a satellite with a mass of between 9.99 and 19.99 grams, and to prove that it has completed at least 9 orbits. The cost of the launch (but not ground facilities) must fall within a budget of £999.99.

Which got me thinking - granted, the budget for launch is small, but exactly how much could be accomplished with that sum?

The first and obvious thought is to build the whole thing from cardboard and string and accept that everything is lost after the mission, but could you do more for the money given enough thought (and time and research budget!).

So then, I've decided that the aims of the Nebula project are to be truly ambitious:

1. To launch a rocket complete with 4 satellites into a low-earth orbit.
2. To deploy the satellites once in orbit
3. To recover (wince) the rocket.
4. To record all of the above using telemetry and on-board video.

Each one of the above is a herculean task, but if it can't be done on-budget then at least I'll have investigated it and know the reasons why it can't be done.

As its impractically expensive and time-consuming to conduct many real-world tests, I'm putting the majority of the initial effort into a software project imaginatively called "LaunchSim". This program attempts to model the physics of what I'm attempting and will save me a lot of time, money and burned fingers when it comes to building. I'll make extensive use of its output on this site so that real physicists can say "hold on - that won't happen", and "where did you get your data - 'The Boys book of Physics'?"

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The space race costs money you know ...